CoryandStuff you said something about issues about pain let me tell you something, if the programer of the game would make the program of game that way that you wouldnt fell pain it should work but that would mean that headgear sould have an pain absober or something like that. About harmful if you want to design head gear that way that you will be log out if you are to long in it will cause quite a rocus wath if you are fighting then after you would log out your body in VR will colapse (since the body would stay here for some minutes cause it would be unfair that you would be fighting and when you find it hard to win you would log out and escape) and your oponent will calmly kill you.
About Lifestyle it is quite smart but i bet that evryone here alredy thougt of that. Safety: maybe it wouldbe posible to manipulate emotions and memories but that would take years of reserche on living humans (nobody will alow that). For safety pourpeuses it is only right to asaign special team on "VR Team" or soething like that to take care of... i dont now like maybe people who get to muche agresive because of VR games or ...

Damn CorryAndStuff, i had the exact same idea -_- i was reading everypost of that topic then i read ur text and like 'the fuck D;"
Since i do many lucid dreams i do know how it works, the feeling etc everything is like real, and if idk some program could put you in that condition, it will be a good start.
or if something could block the way the brain uses to come at that lucid dream and transfer it on a server or smthing, it could work rly.

Hey everyone this is my first post!
What if I told you that "nervegear" has been in development since 2005, I think someone here knows that in 2005, SONY patented a "device for transmitting sensory data" directly in to your brain. The method is non-invasive via ultrasound targeting specific areas of your cortex who trigger especific signals so it can reproduce all of the 5 senses (google it). The project has been undisclosed because SONY don't want to have their scientist asked about the exact technology behind it. But they said, that altough the technology behind it is not yet even developed they said it could be fully developed in 20 years by them, now, remember this was in 2005, think about what they could have achived by now, it's undisclosed but they have added things to the patent with the years which means they have progressed in their research and development.

I'm pretty sure that by 2025-2030 we could have something that resembles a "nerve gear", they are working on sending the digital senses not capturing the state of your brain anyway, that's another story, there are some scientists working on that, merging the two will be the ultimate "nerve gear".

So what do you think.

Here's my thought: I'm pretty sure they can achive something like the nervegear within the next 2 decades, not that sofisticated tough, but enough so you can maybe think the actions like when you want to jump, or you want to talk, or run, or swing a sword. something like you can visualize yourself doing those actions but not actually doing them, if you can see yourselft doing those things, think like dreaming awake, it can be limited only by our imagination and the rules of the actual enviroment, (this has been done at very crude level see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHdQ9daL95w to know what I mean) that means you can wear a "nerve gear" not by being in vegetable like state but like being sitting on a sofa, eating something while you think your game you could "pause" your game by thinking so you can talk to the real people around you and then resume your game, the idea is that your are not entirely disconected from the real world, it's like playing a current game with your mind, think this the next time you play a game, if you can visualize yourself moving the character but not actualy moving them you get the idea. The brain is the ultimate game controller, and i think this escenario is very plausible within the next few decades if not before and will still be pretty cool. So SONY's idea plus a more sofisticated way to read our toughts. Just think that it could have no real repercusions on the real world since it doesn't invasively intercept your actual signals, it just read them so the game enviroment can change and send you the response. You could in fact get off your "nevergear" whenever you want because you are not "vegetable".

I do think there are safety issues, not least of which is a SOA type scenario, but does taking of the helmet, or whatever it is automatically bring you back to the real world, not because it is coded that way, but because your body works that way? If not couldn't a power outage leave you in a comma or sleep state indefinitely? You are talking about replacing all sensory data with sensory data from an electronic interface, while also disconnecting your muscles from getting signals, the way your body does when you sleep.
If you've ever woken up and couldn't move, that is sleep paralysis, your brain disconnects the signals it would otherwise send to your muscles when you sleep, otherwise you would sleep walk, when you wake up it reconnects them. To artificially manipulate that might also be dangerous. I think a long period of testing would be in order to guarantee it is safe, I can't imagine otherwise.
What if I trick you into thinking you've logged out, while you're actually in my own game, it looks just like the real world too, and I use that to steal all your passwords as an extreme version of a man in the middle attack. When you finally do log out I could have stolen money off your accounts, now it is sounding a lot like Inception, but you get the idea.

Ok... Here is my opinion on all this... Oculus isn't even close to Nerve Gear. Why? First: Oculus just makes you think that you're in the game but you aren't in it. Second: Oculus change it perspective by moving your head... That means you are able to move. So you aren't in the Virtual World because you're moving while playing. That isn't a VW. VW means that you aren't able to move in the real world. Now for the Nerve Gear... All in all Nerve Gear stops your brain's work and turn it into data... Also Nerve Gear cover all your face so the perspective is 180 degree while Oculus perspective is 110 degree. If someone can make some device that lead your nerve to the game's data and turn it into data you'll be able to move without training because when you try to move your body for real the send out nerve won't get to your brain but it'll be received by the game's data. Well that's what I'm thinking of Something like Battlefield while playing with nothing. There is no need to fall asleep. And I want to tell you something personal... I can control my dream for real. I am not joking I found out how to control my dreams or making my own dreams or making myself not dreaming. And to tell you the truth... When I am dreaming the time while I am sleeping is more little than not dreaming. Yea sometimes I am too lazy to start making my dream... I don't know if many people can do that but since someone like me can there are other people who can do it. Well if we can control are own dreams don't you think that a machine can do it too? I don't know how they will make it I hope it's soon because I may don't have the same enthusiastic as now... There are two ways of making it: the first one is to make you fall asleep and send data to your brain and the second one is that one which i offered. So let's hope it will be made soon

One thing, the thing which sends signals to your body are brains not nerves and if they are stoped you are death. And one more thing for a computer to be abel to convert brain signals into game data you would need at least quantum computer which by the way will probably be invented in the next 10 years, one of the chinese researches invented a prototype of the main part so quantum computer without mistakes will be in about 10 years.

Lots of interesting discussion here, and some interesting speculation on when this will all be available. I'm not going to throw numbers around, as we are fast approaching a point where technology is going to explode is what it can do. I'm going to talk about where we are now, and a new technology on the horizon that will redefine everything and quite possibly make the NerveGear real.

A real life NerveGear will be needed in order to recreate 100% immersion in a virtual space. We are starting to get closer with some of our current VR tech, but we NEED much better. As a Transhumanist, I literally see the next stage of our evolution as the merging of the real and the digital. To merge humans with technology. Sounds crazy? Perhaps, but if you want SAO, this is the road we need to take.

Where we are now!
Current VR tech is starting to enter the mainstream and allow immerse experiences that will far eclipse all that we currently know and love in gaming. The following below is a sampling of where we are.

The Oculus Rift: http://www.oculusvr.com/ Everybody know about this that is into the VR scene at all. The inventor of the Rift, Palmer Luckey has also stated he is READY for competition, but the Rift is very important because it will bring VR SIGHT into the mainstream at an affordable price. If the Rift takes off, expect to see more VR Head Mounted Displays make their way into the market, likely on the higher end of the spectrum.

The Emotiv: http://www.emotiv.com/ This is a brainwave reading device that allows you to set various actions along with your thoughts. For those that are into big fancy words, it specifically is a consumer Electroencephalography system. This area is a biiiit rough at the moment, but does work! I've tried it myself. Think of it as like training to use the FORCE. Think about lifting a rock, and you lift the rock. The only downside at the moment is you have to use the FORCE for well... everything. Imagine trying to use the force to switch guns all the time, turn left, turn right. We are getting there, needs some improvement still.

Omni-directional Treadmill: Virtuix Omni! http://www.virtuix.com/ Being able to walk/run around the world while in your living room is important to a proper VR experience. These fellows are making a omnidirectional treadmill that will enable us to walk around in a virtual world without knocking into IRL walls. A video of a prototype is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpYJXrDHOBk Support these people! A Kickstarter will be done in May to help get these people going!

WHERE WE ARE HEADED!!!!
So the above is just three things that are getting us there, but how are we ultimately going to be able to experience SAO? Mapping the brain and understanding how the electrical signals that the body sends to the brain are done so that we may replicate this. Thankfully.... we are on the way.

The leader of this field is Sheila Nirenberg who is trying to develop a Bionic eye that will cure blindness. She is working on reverse engineering how the mind understands the signals. If we can do this and duplicate 20/20 vision, then we can then take the same electrical engineering techniques and start learning how our brains understands the rest of our senses. Here is a TED Talk from her on this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa2JfigaNcs

I can not stress enough how important Sheila's research is for us. Her goal is to cure the blind, a noble goal indeed. The VR applications of her work however, are staggering to contemplate.

If by merging humans and machines you mean to put an device in your body just to play games I personaly wouldn`t do it, but on the other hand you are right in the future we humans will certanily have delices in our bodies if not anything else at least to track down people.

One thing, the thing which sends signals to your body are brains not nerves and if they are stoped you are death. And one more thing for a computer to be abel to convert brain signals into game data you would need at least quantum computer which by the way will probably be invented in the next 10 years, one of the chinese researches invented a prototype of the main part so quantum computer without mistakes will be in about 10 years.

Actually by nerves I really mean nerves What I'm talking about are these nerves that are being send from the brain to our body for movement. I mean if they make a device that stops the brain from giving signals to our legs and arms but leave the others and make these nerves to data for movement in the game

OK then if you mean it like that it is correct, but instead nerves you should say electrical signals, since our brain does send electrical signals to muscels and they then strech or shrink acordingly to the impuls.

Yea sorry. I forgot They are electrical signals for are body to move.If they are only stopped from going to our body and directed to the game's data we will be able to move in the game but not in the real life. And you won't need practice because you will move your own body while not doing it Well some bakas won't understand the last sentence But this is a way that the nerve gear could possibly be made in the future. I hope it will be soon We have oculus rift which only can make us jump into the virtual reality but not living there. I think virtual reality means another world which you can do things in the reality but with some extras and you can't be in the real world while you are in the virtual.